Egypt's president stands by his decrees

Associated Press

Associated Press

Updated 8:14 am, Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Egyptians carry the body of Gaber Salah, who was who was killed during clashes with security forces in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Thousands of Egyptians on Monday gathered into Cairo's Tahrir Square to attend the funeral of Salah, who was severely injured during clashes with security forces last week and died Sunday night. (AP Photo/Hussein Tallal)

Egyptians carry the body of Gaber Salah, who was who was killed...

A general view of Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Thousands of Egyptians on Monday marched into Cairo's Tahrir Square to attend the funeral of Gaber Salah, who was severely injured during clashes with security forces last week and died Sunday night. (AP Photo/Ahmed Abdel Fattah)

A general view of Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 26,...

Egyptians attend the funeral of Gaber Salah, who was who was killed in clashes with security forces in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Thousands of Egyptians on Monday gathered into Cairo's Tahrir Square to attend the funeral of Salah, who was severely injured during clashes with security forces last week and died Sunday night. (AP Photo/Hussein Tallal)

Egyptians attend the funeral of Gaber Salah, who was who was killed...

Egyptians stand on police vehicles during the funeral of Gaber Salah, who was who was killed in clashes with security forces in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Thousands of Egyptians on Monday gathered into Cairo's Tahrir Square to attend the funeral of Salah, who was severely injured during clashes with security forces last week and died Sunday night. (AP Photo/Hussein Tallal)

CAIRO — Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi struck an uncompromising stand Monday over his seizure of near absolute powers, refusing in a meeting with top judicial authorities to rescind a package of constitutional amendments that placed his edicts above oversight by the courts.

Morsi's supporters, meanwhile, canceled a massive rally planned for Tuesday to compete with a demonstration by his opponents, citing the need to "defuse tension" at a time when anger over the president's moves is mounting, according to a spokesman for the president's Muslim Brotherhood.

The opposition rally was going ahead as scheduled at Cairo's Tahrir square, birthplace of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime nearly two years ago.

The meeting between Morsi and members of the Supreme Judiciary Council was a bid to resolve a four-day crisis that has plunged the country into a new round of turmoil, with clashes between the two sides that have left one protester dead and hundreds wounded.

Morsi, according to a presidential statement, told the judges that while the constitutional declaration he announced Thursday grants him immunity from any oversight, he intended to restrict that to what it described as "sovereignty issues."

The vaguely worded statement did not define those issues, but they were widely interpreted to cover declaration of war, imposition of martial law, breaking diplomatic relations with a foreign nation or dismissing a Cabinet.

The statement did not touch on the protection from oversight Morsi has extended to two bodies dominated by his Brotherhood and other Islamists: The 100-member panel tasked with drafting a new constitution and parliament's mostly toothless lower chamber, or the Shura council.

The Shura Council does not have lawmaking authorities but, in the absence of the more powerful lower chamber, the People's Assembly, it is the only popularly elected body where the Brotherhood and other Islamists have a majority. The People's Assembly was dissolved by a court ruling in June.

The judiciary has pushed back, calling the decrees a power grab and an "assault" on the branch's independence.